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When attempting to play with fire, the first rule is obviously ‘just do not,
The second regrettable precaution for those who wish to violate that obvious and most basic rule would be to simply allow Under ‘Adult Supervision’,
And the third rule, if these two rules are foolishly ignored, will be ‘Keep fire service ready’,
Companies and celebrities should sit down, and as the millennials say, “take a lot of seats”, if they are confident they can manage the publicity stunt on their own. This is the larger message of the two recent PR disasters we have all witnessed.
Those who wish to pull publicity stunts should know that they cannot be left in the hands of inadequately endowed adults or amateurs in CXO suites disguised as industry veterans.
The image may change into flames. They can start anywhere, especially when driving as an amateur. Anything that is in the public domain can become a target of fire in these trigger-happy times. Those who lack sufficient experience should never attempt something that is best left in the hands of experienced professionals, and it is definitely not worth attempting at home.
Experts have a reason and an even stronger argument for why it is advisable to stay away from these types of communication misadventures.
Yes madam ignored the red flags
The recent public bashing of spa aggregator Yesmadam was inadequate.
Conducting a fake survey and linking it to the idea of ’de-stress leaves’, leading to dismissals, trivializing the real-life stress as well as mental anguish involved in job security, especially in a field in which Yesmadam works, were all waving red flags violently.
X Users react to Yesmadam PR stunt.
Following a furious storm of protest, the claim that ‘no employees were fired during the stunt’s execution’ was conveniently explained away as the need for time to highlight the tension. Then while most of the event was on Instagram and other channels, a long flirtatious apology followed on LinkedIn as a defense that, as far as media preferences are concerned, this is a joke.
Yes madam’s explanation.
Start-up type operation that describes itself on LinkedIn as having ‘sharks on board’ (almost a violation of the stress-free expectation), claims to have a ‘management team’, some of whom graduated from respected institutions This is what helped them see the wisdom in their own CXO suite. It is strange that, given the obvious inadequacy of preparation, posture or even back-up support, they attempted what they claimed to do. What’s worse is that by their own admission, they claim that they are attempting their own version of social service and bringing about social change by exposing this unnecessary excess.
such stupidities survive
A more recent example of an attempt to play with this dark and mysterious art of ‘stunt PR’ was made by the eminently forgettable actor Poonam PandeyShe tried to trend jack the news of the government launching a free cervical cancer vaccine and worked with her clearly inadequate PR team to fake her death from cervical cancer.
The bigger question was whether he had downplayed the seriousness of the disease, with the minor consequence being that some media outlets had fallen for the hoax.
PR stunt by Poonam Pandey’s team for cervical cancer awareness.
In her case, unlike the recently criticized Yesmadam, there was clear and public evidence that she had consistently turned a blind eye. Increasing your aim too wildly will inevitably cause you to crash in a flaming heap.
Once they’re out, reactions to failed exercises range from anodyne.Ganda‘More shrill, stupid, idiotic, unbelievable and worse.
The damage is often long-term as these foolish incidents live forever in the public memory as well as on the Internet, where the guilt of failure and complete incompetence begins to tarnish every effort made in the future. Remember, as far as these stunts are concerned, the present never forgets the past.
very little margin for error
As a practitioner of image management, one of the things I’ve tried to focus on whenever attempting something dangerous is measuring the results.
Before recommending anything treacherous, I first look for accurate answers or estimates to quantitative questions. What would be the benefit in terms of either increased marketing impact resulting in immediate sales or the company’s ability to attract fresh new talent or investors being more fundamentally motivated to drive the share price up?
Unless there is evidence that at least two of these elements are not enhanced by any communication activity that is outside the box, there must be a particularly good reason to take the risky path.
The so-called qualitative material is a dream sequence. It’s a vision left for wafflers, dreamers, hobbyists, heirs, and people not affected by the reality of company management.
Image management has been formulated as a respected science.
There is little room for error as markets are becoming increasingly inexact, and when options, choices and roots are the result of careful analysis of the corporate goal of the assets we have and the potential reactions of the competition, there can be room for Creativity, but certainly little to stupidity.
(Dilip Cherian is India’s ‘Image Guru’ and now a Master in Litigation Landscaping. He can be found at x @dilipthecherian. This is an opinion, and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint Neither endorses nor is responsible for it.)
